Imelda upset at planned exhibit of her old jewelry

ABS-CBN News

MANILA, Philippines - Former first lady Imelda Marcos is upset at the government's plan to exhibit and eventually dispose of the pieces of jewelry seized from the Palace during the end of the Marcos regime.

Marcos, along with supporters and family members, trooped to a church in Batac, Ilocos Norte for a mass offered in remembrance of former President Ferdinand Marcos' 95th birthday on Tuesday.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) had earlier bared plans to put on public display jewels seized from the Marcos family, in hopes it will attract tourists.

The collection, worth at least eight million dollars, have sat in a bank vault for decades after being seized as part of assets allegedly plundered by the Marcos family before it fled to US exile in 1986, after 20 years in power.

The government plans to ultimately auction them off after putting them on display, said PCGG senior official Maita Gonzaga.

"They can attract tourists, (and) also (show) that there are certain lessons of the past that should not be forgotten. These are actual tangible evidence of plunder," Gonzaga earlier told AFP.

A group of human rights victims, Claimants 1081, favors the jewelry exhibit but the group wants the government to focus more on the long delayed compensation bill for victims of human rights violations during the dictatorship.

They said the immediate passage of the bill will be meaningful as the country remembers the 40th anniversary of martial law on September 21. - With Alvin Elchico, ABS-CBN News; Agence France-Presse